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<h2>The bFree Application</h2>
The <b>bFree</b> application extracts the data and organization from a Blackboard&#153;
course "Export" (or "Archive") zip file, and creates either a web site or a directory
hierarchy with the extracted information. The web site or the folders exhibit
the same structure and names as the original Blackboard&#153; course.<BR><BR>
In addition, the web site uses a style sheet and images that can  be customized
to have an appearance and "branding" that better fits your needs and taste.<br><br>
<b>bFree</b> thus allows course authors to:
<ul>
<li>conveniently retrieve texts and other
materials that might not otherwise be available
outside of Blackboard&#153;
<li>produce independent course web sites with the same content and structure
<li>easily share the course data or web site with others
</ul>

<h2>How to Export from Blackboard&#153;</h2>
Given that you have administrative privileges for a course (and you do if you
are the course's author), navigate into the Blackboard&#153; course, then:
<ul>
<li>click
on the "Control Panel" link (in the left-hand navigation area) to open the Control Panel
<li>in the "Course Options" area of the Control Panel, click on "Export Course"
(or "Archive Course")
<li>on the "Export Course" (or "Archive Course") page, select the items you would like
to export (so that <b>bFree</b> can extract them)
<li>check the "Settings" box, which provides some basic course information
<li>then click the "Submit" button
</ul>
Another page appears, displaying a link to the Export (or Archive) zip file; save
this to your computer or other file system. Then click the "OK" button on that page.

<h2>Using bFree</h2>
When you open <b>bFree</b>, you will see a title and message at the top, a large
display area in the middle, and several buttons at the bottom. The (nearly empty)
display area will hold an outline of the Export (or Archive) zip that you choose
to extract.<BR>
<h3>The Buttons</h3>
The labels on the buttons, and the actions prodcued by the buttons are:
<ul>
<li><b>Open an exported zip file ...</b> asks you to choose a zip file from your
computer or other file system; the contents will then be displayed
<li><b>Show actual content only</b> some course sections may have no data (or
<b>bFree</b> does not handle them yet); this button takes them off the display
<li><b>Extract as files/folders ...</b> asks you to designate a folder, then 
extracts the course content into that folder, creating a folder hierarchy that
parallels the organization of the original course
<li><b>Create a basic web site ...</b> asks you to designate a folder, then
extracts the course content into that folder as a set of web pages and files
that parallel the organization of the original course; the pages are made
using a set of default templates
</ul>
<h3>The Display</h3>
After you open an Export (or Archive) zip file, its contents and organization
will be displayed as a standard hierarchy of folders, subfolders and files 
in the large display area in the middle of the window.<BR><BR>
For each item in the hierarchy, there are entries in the table on the right-hand 
side. The table columns are:
<ul>
<li><b>Type</b> tells what the entry represents within the actual Blackboard&#153; 
course: 
<ul>
<li>"Course" is the overall course itself
<li>"Section" is a course section
as listed in the main (left-hand) navigation menu within the course
<li>"Item" is one of the several content items within a section, usually 
consisting of a title (also the item's title in this display), some text, 
and perhaps an attachment
<li>"Text" is the descriptive text of an item
<li>"File" is any file attached to an item
<li>"Link" is a URL associated with an item
<li>"Info" is a staff information entry
<li>"Folder" is a folder that can contain items
</UL>
With further development, there will be other types supported as well.

<li><b>Extract?</b> when this box is checked, this item is designated to be extracted
<li><b>Created</b> and <b>Upddated</b> are dates, as indicated (this
information cannot always be established)
</ul>

Since <b>bFree</b> maintains the folder hierarchy when extracting content,
it insists on checking the "Extract?" boxes in the path from "Course" to
anything you choose to extract; this makes checking these boxes a little odd:
<ul>
<li>unchecking or checking a box at a higher level automatically unchecks or
checks all its subordinates
<li>unchecking a lower-level box does not affect higher-level entries
<li>checking a lower-level box automatically checks the boxes in the path up 
to the "Course" entry.
</ul>

<h2>Customizing the Web Pages</h2>
The web site that <b>bFree</b> creates consists of:
<ul>
<li>a cascading style sheet file that is used by all pages
<li>an "images" folder for images used by the style sheet
<li>a "files" folder to contain any document and image files from the course
<li>an index page customized for the course
<li>additional pages customized for the various sections and sub-sections of the course
</ul>
You can modify the style sheet and images (being sure to leave the names
intact) to customize the look of the site.<BR><br>
<hr>
<BR>
<b>Note:</b> Blackboard&#153; is a trademark of Blackboard, Inc.
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